Photographer's Note

11th November 1975 – Independence of Angola

Today, a couple pictures to commemorate the Angola National Day. Soon after the independence, a wave of revolutionary street artists swept the Angolan capital and left many mural paintings all over the place. I was in Angola at the time and went around the city to capture on slides many of the murals. Quite recently, I found a box of slides that I thought had been lost many years ago and I picked the one which I think is very appropriate for today’s posting. I hope you like it. In WS is a general view of the mural painting for context.

Pictures scanned from KODACHROME 64 slides dated 1976.

Some numbers since the Republic of Angola became independent 33 years ago.

Independence Day: 11th November 1975
Years of Liberation War: 14 (1961-1975)
Years of Civil War: 27 (1975-2002)
President: José Eduardo dos Santos, since Sept 1979 and NEVER been elected!

Unemployment: estimated to be 25.2% in 2006
Population below poverty line (2003 est.): 70%
Percentage population living on less than 1US$/day: 70%
Inflation Rate in 2000: 325%
Inflation Rate in 2007: 13%

Hello Antonio,
Thanks for the very informative note about Angola.
In general I like mural paintings very much. I like to discover the messages that these paintings give in an unofficial way. But I also like the art of comic strips as many people in my country do.
Looking at this colourful painting I wonder how African it really is. You write that revolutionary street artists did a lot of mural painting in Luanda. So I suppose these artists were Angolese people. I may be wrong of course but this painting looks very much like comic strips made in Europe during the colonial period. I imagined African art and paintings much different. But again, I'm probably wrong.
Best regards, Paul

this is a colourful street painting...a bit humoristic as well...but...but...we all know what happened to Angola after that kick!
the president had never been elected, cuban and soviet came....a civil war started...sowing landmines almost everywhere.
I hope they will recover....some tourism is starting there....but so far it seems they should have not kicked portuguese out (maybe I am wrong too...and I know it is not so fine to think that way....)

Everybody knows the wonderful achievements of the Angolans after they kicked out the barbarian, Portuguese colonialists and the American imperialists with the Bush...
We've learned about it in the schools...
And we clapped our hands: Away with the colonialism... Imperialism must go...!!!
Long live Soviet Union, our defender of the freedom...!!!
I remember those beautiful days...
Haile Selassie was a God ( still is - actually)...
Lenin showed us the way !!!

..................
have you noticed how ugly were the imperialists those days in all of the paintings and drawings ?

Olá Antonio,
hmm, I find this picture very valuable, not only because is retrospective window to the past, but also like a reflection of the street art and political moods in this epoch. I had a friend (bulgarian) who lived with his family in Angola during the civil war and he lost his arm during a scope of fire of russian soldiers. The theme Angola is very sensitive for me. Thanks for sharing.
Gosto desta:)
Silvia

Ola, Antonio!
Very good post and of a very good quality!
Seeing the WS I wonder if this wall with a mural on it is
still there, since it was already crumbling at the time
you took this shot.
Cheers,
Robi

I like images that surprise me, Antonio, and this one surely does that. You have presented a fascinating piece of popular art. It is a very vivid and expressive image and one with cultural and historic relevance.I was pleased to have the WS shot too, to give the context. regards kevin

Hello Antonio, One year older than mine, I little bit of history well captured & one I'm sure brings back many memories. I guess there are always two sides to an argument & the views we have often depend on which side of the fence we sit on. Well seen & captured. Thanks also for the very extensive & informative note.
Regards
Santo

Olá António,
What a find to unearth those long-lost slides!! Your composition is sharp and the colors amazing. Good to include the context in the WS. The statistics certainly don't speak well for 'independence.' What a sad disappointment for those who fought for independence and are apparently still fighting now.

I had a student from Eritrea who fought for indpendence from Ethiopia and encouraged others to fight. He said the new government was worse than the old government. He could fight no more, so he left; but he still felt responsible for the SAA, Pat

Hello Sr.António, I liked the way how Angolan street artists reflected their feelings on the walls after the colonial period. You could have crop uper-left part, just to remove the darker part from the photo. The overall graffiti at the WS is more beautiful.
Portugal also has a very rich graffiti culture. Regards, Tolga

Hi Antonio!
Together with your great note this is a great shot,explaining well the history.Thanks for posting this good shot "learning about the world through photography"
Good quality for this old scanned one.
Regards,leo

One of my favorite things about living in Chile was seeing the political murals and messages all over the walls of Santiago, particularly in the poor areas. Given that most of the people in those areas had no other way to really express their frustration with the system, you could really see a bit into their mindset. I like this shot, and your note on Angola is very interesting as well. So much to be done in Africa.

Maybe the day will come , when the people of Angola can enjoy a safer , healthier and better life as they deserve after so many years of instability .
By contrast , Angola is now a model for change for many African countries ,but as your relevant datas indicates , there is a long way to go. you have all it takes to make the change.

Hello Antonio, this is a very interesting historical document. I wish to know, how such a bilboard would look like today, if anything has changed in the minds of those in power of todays time. Interesting note too. Thanks for sharing. Kind regards, Michael

What a wonderful poster, it is so true, colonialism is a thing of the past, fine, as a Swiss I can say that, because we never had colonies, but perhaps it has to be seen from the position of a colonial power such as UK, Spain or Portugal. Your shot is an excellent historic document. Well done